


Live and Learn

by Vera_dAuriac



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bathing/Washing, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Light Bondage, M/M, Multi, Nicaise (Captive Prince) Lives, Nipple Play, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Oral Sex, Past Child Abuse, Pearl Necklace, Rimming, Size Difference, Submission, fuck anyone who thinks I shouldn't write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:06:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21906943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera_dAuriac/pseuds/Vera_dAuriac
Summary: Nicaise!lives and needs Laurent and Damen to show him how to love.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince), Damen/Laurent/Nicaise (Captive Prince)
Comments: 83
Kudos: 113





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CanadianGarrison](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanadianGarrison/gifts).



> So, happy Hanukkah, my dearest Canadian Garrison! It just so happened that this story naturally works in 8 parts, so you will get a new chapter for every night of Hanukkah, because you totally deserve it.
> 
> This particular fic is actually the first fic I ever thought about writing in this universe. But then I experienced some push back for the idea, so I tabled it, too annoyed to write it well. But the anger has settled into creatively useful energy, and here it finally is.
> 
> I've no clear idea what the age of consent in this 'verse is, but in this fic, I've decided it is 17. Because some people consider anything under 18 in any context underage, I used that warning in an abundance of caution, and because I mention (although in no detail) that Nicaise has sex when he is 16.
> 
> TW: I address the past abuse that Laurent and Nicaise suffered, although it is not the focus of the story.
> 
> Don't own these characters, etc.

**by Vera d'Auriac**

He thought of leaving his dark corner as soon as the Regent left Arles. But he didn’t trust the guards who remained at the palace or even the people in the streets. The hunger nearly got to him, though, one night when he was about to lay down under his dirty blanket for the second day in a row without food. He peeked out the door of the abandoned stable where he had been hiding for months and saw no one. He thought perhaps he would be safe in this area after dark, scavenging for something to eat, and he was about to step into the unfamiliar alley in this neighborhood he hadn’t known existed before his flight from the palace. But then a guard from the city watch rounded the corner, and he ducked back inside, his stomach now beyond growling. In a last desperate bid, he dug through the bag of supplies he’d paid the urchin boy, sick with something like the kissing fever, to bring him the week before. Somehow he had missed a dried sausage in an inside pocket. He wept with joy as he swallowed.

And this was the state Nicaise found himself in when Laurent marched victoriously into Arles with King Damianos at his side. When Laurent and Damen had left, Damen had been a pet, just like Nicaise. No, Nicaise had lived a pampered life as the ruler’s favorite pet, left to lounge around the palace like a sated unicorn, covered in silks, not a care in the world but when the Regent might want him again and how he could continue to please his master as he grew dangerously old. But the Regent was dead now, and everyone had a new name.

Laurent was King. Damen now King Damianos. And Nicaise was calling himself Gabriel. He did not like to think about how or why he had taken the name, though, and unlike the two kings, Nicaise was hoping to reclaim his old name.

In order to do so, though, he needed to get to the palace. But he had grown so accustomed to his dark corner of the world, he did not know if he could venture out into the bright Veretian sunlight. Would Laurent help him? Would Damen let Laurent? Nicaise did not hear as much news as he was used to when he lived at the center of the court and society, but the sick urchin boy, Christophe to give him his name, told Nicaise bits of news and gossip. Laurent and Damen were together and intended to rule both Vere and Akielos jointly. Nicaise had gone to great lengths to make Damen hate him. Perhaps this new part-king would order his death before Nicaise ever had the chance to see Laurent and plead his case.

Nicaise swallowed the last of his water, hoping to get the terrible stale taste out of his mouth, before he pushed open his door. He was beyond dirty, in torn clothes he’d worn for months, but he must go to the palace and discover his fate. He would die here otherwise. He’d been able to sell some of the jewelry the Regent had given him, but the money from that was running low and he couldn’t trust to see Christophe regularly.

When he emerged, the city looked more beautiful than he had ever seen it, and he did not believe it was because he had lived mostly in dark and filth for months. The sun shone and everything was clean—the streets, the windows, the people—but it was more than that. Everyone he passed smiled, or at least they did until they saw him. The dogs all waged their tails and the birds sang from their perches in colorful trees. All of Vere celebrated the return of their handsome, brave king, and the sun would shine always again, as it had before the Regent. He couldn’t believe there would be a place for him in this world.

He had escaped from the palace in the thick nightshirt he wore when he was positive the Regent would not want him, along with a bag of his pet clothes and a light cloak he’d stolen from a servant. All of it had become impossibly stained and worn, and today he had put on a tunic of diaphanous silk the shade of a robin’s egg and voluminous white silk pants faded gray with a film of dirt and ash and he knew not what. But they were arguably the best he could still manage. Even with the cloak to hide the worst of the rips and stains, he doubted he would be allowed in the front door, even if the guards recognized him. Perhaps especially if they recognized him.

However, he knew other ways in that would be lightly guarded, if at all. Assuming he found Laurent, and Laurent was willing to talk to him, Nicaise should probably warn him about these ways in. If Laurent took him back into the palace, Nicaise would do anything for him. They had always fought, tricked each other, but maybe (Nicaise could never be sure), he thought Laurent might want to help him. Although, it was more likely Laurent had only wanted to use Nicaise in his struggles against his uncle, and now that the Regent was dead, Laurent might not have any use for him. Laurent could be disappointed to find Nicaise not dead, as he most likely believed.

Still, what could Nicaise do but slip in through the window of the pantry and slowly make his way up the back stairs to Laurent’s rooms? At one point, he had to hide behind a potted fern to avoid Jord seeing him. But otherwise, he slid from shadow to shadow, no one noticing him in the chaos of the palace. And at last he pushed through Laurent’s door.

The rooms stood empty, but Nicaise could tell that Laurent had returned home and taken up residence in his old rooms, not those meant for the king. Nicaise couldn’t say why, but he had known Laurent would do this. Laurent would never want to sleep where his uncle had.

Based on the trunks and random items scattered about (a robe, slippers, an Akielon sword), he assumed Damen was staying here as well. These rooms were really only designed for one, or possibly one and a pet, but Laurent had his other king in here with him anyway. It seemed wrong, to share space with the man who had been your pet and was now your lover (Nicaise guessed that was the best word). Laurent apparently wanted to do everything differently. Nicaise couldn’t decide if that would prove good or bad for him.

Voices filtered through the door. Nicaise couldn’t tell who or how many, but he felt certain someone was about to enter. Rather than linger in the entry area, Nicaise ran into the bedroom and hid behind some curtains, from which he hoped he would be able to still see the door. No sooner was he panting, back pressed to a cold stone wall next to a window, than the door swung open.

It was Laurent and Damen. Someone in the hallway spoke to them briefly, but Laurent hastily waved the person away, and Damen pushed the door closed on the speaker’s final words.

“I thought he’d never stop talking,” Damen whispered, as he wrapped his huge arms around Laurent’s waist and pulled him close.

“I don’t think he actually has,” Laurent whispered back before kissing Damen.

Nicaise had never seen Laurent kiss anyone. He’d never seen someone touch him, either. It was stunning to Nicaise in a way he couldn’t quite understand. Laurent, the frigid prince no man could approach. But here he was melting under Damen’s hands and lips. Nicaise had, of course, seen people being intimate thousands of times. He had personally been taken in any number of ways. And yet, watching Laurent and Damen now, he felt he was witnessing something new. Something he had not known possible. Everything about Laurent indicated genuine pleasure and safety in those barbaric arms. How could any of it be possible?

“What should we do now that we can’t hear him?” Damen asked.

Laurent’s hands slid slowly up and down Damen’s huge back, a smile curving his lips entirely unlike the clever smirk Nicaise had grown used to. “There’s nowhere we have to be until supper. I’m open to suggestions.”

Damen chuckled and kissed Laurent deliberately. Nicaise fought with the urge to both watch and pray they did not find him, and to run away from the sight. His aching stomach forced him to a different option, however. He might not ever find Laurent entirely alone since Damen shared these rooms, so he might as well take his chance now.

He stepped out from behind the curtain.

“I’m sure you have at least two open suggestions for how to amuse yourselves, but I’m going to require part of your time between now and supper.”

Laurent and Damen stopped kissing the moment Nicaise began speaking, but they had not broken apart or moved in any way other than to turn their heads toward him. In fact, they both looked entirely shocked. He supposed that answered the question of whether or not Gabriel’s head had made it to them.

“Nicaise. You’re alive.”

“I see the leap from prince to king has made you more perceptive than ever. Yes, I’m alive. I smell a bit like death, though, so if you could arrange for a bath, I would appreciate it.”

Laurent finally broke from Damen and ran across the marble floor. Nicaise thought Laurent looked as if he might be considering hugging him. He was probably wrong, but he was too filthy and didn’t want to get his stink all over Laurent’s magnificent clothes. Nicaise stiffened, and with every ounce of the dignity he could still find in himself, he stood upright. He might smell like a beggar, but he could still stand like an aloof cat, utterly uninterested in anyone around him.

It brought Laurent up short.

“How? How are you not dead?”

Nicaise had, naturally, thought a great deal about how he would explain the twisted game the Regent had played with him shortly before taking off after Laurent and Damen. Sometimes, he told the story very dispassionately, and Laurent nodded sagely. Other times they both cursed the Regent and shared their rage over what a horrible human being he had been. But with Laurent’s searching blue eyes now so close, Nicaise faltered.

“I had…,” but his voice faded until he cleared his throat. “The Regent discovered that I had a cousin, Gabriel. We looked somewhat alike.” Nicaise glanced up at Laurent, whose eyes questioned every word Nicaise spoke, because he was already beginning to understand, but found it impossible to believe. Nicaise stared at the floor and could not figure out how to go on.

“I’m sorry,” Laurent said. “I was so shocked to see you here, I’m not thinking. Come sit down.” With a soft hand on Nicaise’s shoulder, Laurent steered him to the foot of the bed. Once they had settled, Laurent patted Nicaise’s shoulder, but then let his hand fall to his own lap. Nicaise hadn’t noticed, but Damen had come over to join them. He remained standing, peering down like a statue of some angry warrior of old. “Can you go on?”

“Of course, I can go on,” Nicaise snapped, furious with himself that he appeared like such a helpless boy before these two. He decided he would simply speak as swiftly as possible and not stop until he reached the end. “Just after the two of you left, I ran away from the palace. While I was hiding, the Regent found my cousin, Gabriel, who looked a good deal like me once he was cleaned up and taught a little style. When the Regent found me, he said he would kill my cousin and ship his head to you and tell you it was me if I ever ran away again. I didn’t think he would, because why would you care, but—”

Nicaise’s voice broke, and a sob escaped him, totally unbidden and utterly embarrassing. Why he should care what became of his cousin, he didn’t know. They hadn’t known each other well or gotten on particularly well when they had spent time together. But Nicaise didn’t like to think someone else was dead because of him. He realized it was a stupid thing to be upset about, but whatever. He would get over it eventually, he had no doubt.

The problem was that at this point with Laurent close enough Nicaise could feel the heat of Laurent’s body, so real and alive, the guilt overwhelmed him. And he never did know why sending Gabriel’s head to Laurent would have upset Laurent so badly, but it seemed to have had the Regent’s desired effect. It made Nicaise furious that the Regent had used him to upset Laurent. Which also didn’t quite make sense, either, since he had spent so much time trying to upset Laurent himself. Nicaise had too many feelings, and he didn’t understand a one of them.

Much to his mortification, what he did with all the guilt and sadness that mixed with the surprising relief of seeing Laurent again, was cry. The tears ran down his cheeks and he could do nothing to check them. Sobs heaved from his chest and through his clenched teeth. But he possessed no power to stop any of it. Laurent placed his hand once more on his grimy shoulder, and that small kindness broke something inside Nicaise. Tears and sobs turned to wails, and he fell against Laurent, who wrapped an arm around him and held him close as all the pain of his entire life leaked out of him at once.


	2. Chapter 2

After a bath and a meal, Laurent came to see Nicaise in the room he had been given. It was next door to Laurent and Damen, and he had the feeling someone important had been moved from it in order to move him in. He didn’t know where the clothes had been found that he was wearing, but they were well made and warm and covered more of his body than anything he had worn since coming to Arles. It caused him to feel like a little boy again, a sensation he had thought behind him.

“Are you feeling better?” Laurent asked. He had joined Nicaise on a small sofa in front of the fire. Until now, Nicaise hadn’t realized how cold he had been during his months in hiding and maybe even before.

“I am fine,” Nicaise said, aiming for and missing the imperious tone he had always tried to affect at court. “I promise you that my bizarre display from this afternoon will not ever be repeated.”

“I know how hard it can be to cry. If you can, you should do it whenever you need to. It’s actually a good thing.”

“Well, I’m sure I won’t need to do it again, so it doesn’t matter.”

They sat silently staring at the fire for so many minutes he lost track of time. He wondered when Laurent would speak again, would get to whatever point had brought him here. But Laurent had always been patient, more so, it turned out, than Nicaise had ever suspected. Nicaise had to fight the urge to squirm where he sat. The silence at last became untenable.

“So what now?” Nicaise asked, suddenly angry at Laurent for making him take the lead on a conversation he didn’t feel up to having tonight if ever. Better to get it over with, though, than wait forever for Laurent to say the obvious thing, the thing men always wanted to say to him. “Would you like me to undress? I assume since you’ve decided to stop being impossibly frigid, you want a pet, and we both know there’s no better pet in Vere than me.”

“Stop it,” Laurent’s voice was quiet, yet severe all the same. “Never say that again. You will be no one’s pet ever again.”

The warm soup and cheese Nicaise had eaten roiled in his stomach. Not to be a pet. What would he be if not a pet? He’d seen the boys in the brothels in the town where he’d grown up. He was still prettier and more skilled than any of them, but that wouldn’t last much longer. He would be destitute, living once more in an abandoned stable, hoping not to starve. He pictured the boys he had seen in his days hiding from the Regent. Sick and skinny, teeth falling out with open sores on their limbs. They wouldn’t even live long enough to watch their looks fade—they would die, hideous looking long before they hit 22.

“Don’t take away the only way I know how to survive,” he whispered in a trembling voice.

“Nicaise, you misunderstand me.”

Nicaise glanced at Laurent out of the corner of his eye, hands folded in his lap, face a mask of gravity. Nicaise didn’t know if he wanted to understand Laurent, because how could any of it be good? Perhaps it wasn’t better to find out his doom now. Better to put it off until tomorrow after he’d slept in a bed for the first time in months. He yawned dramatically, stretching provocatively in a way he knew most men enjoyed, just as a test. Laurent didn’t flinch.

“I’m sure I don’t,” Nicaise answered. “But I’m quite tired and want to go to bed now.”

“Nicaise, I want to offer you a place to live and an education. I want to help you have whatever it is you want in life.”

“And what if I want to be a pet?”

“No one wants to be a pet.”

“Ancel does.”

“Ancel and Berringer are in love. You should see how they look at each other now. Ancel isn’t his pet—he’s his partner.”

Nicaise couldn’t believe any of that was true. Ancel did everything possible to be the flashiest pet, working for the most influential man who would lavish him with the most gifts and the best contract. Berringer was surely rich, but Ancel would never settle with someone of such middling influence. Maybe Berringer’s standing had grown with Laurent’s victory over his uncle? Yes, that would make more sense than Ancel being in love, he decided.

“Whatever.” Nicaise yawned again, this time almost genuinely. He was exhausted, sleep being something that had often eluded him during his months in hiding. “I’m an excellent pet. I don’t see why I shouldn’t be allowed to continue.”

“You’re just a boy, Nicaise.”

“You know I haven’t really been a boy in years.”

“You should get the chance to be one now.” Neither of them spoke for a few heartbeats, Nicaise not sure what to say to such a sentiment, but Laurent clearly waiting for a reaction he didn’t know how to give. “I’m going to change that law,” Laurent finally said.

“Well, you are king. Making laws is what you’re supposed to do.”

“I’m not going to permit pets younger than 17.”

This finally made Nicaise turn to Laurent, panic flooding his body. How could Laurent do this to him? Why had he thought Laurent ever cared? “That’s stupid and pointless. I’ll just end up in a brothel instead. How is that better?”

“I won’t allow anyone under 17 to work in a brothel, either.”

“It will still happen anyway, whatever your stupid laws say. Only it will be more hidden and far more dangerous for the boys. And pets will just be adopted sons or something else. You can’t change anything.”

“Yes, I can.” Laurent’s voice had gone hard. “I can change things for you. I thought you were dead, and I hated myself for letting him do that to you. I can’t let that happen to you again. I just can’t.”

“So, this isn’t about me at all, but about you.”

“It’s about both of us.” Laurent sighed and slumped back into the corner of the sofa. “You have to understand that.”

Nicaise didn’t know if he did or not, but he really couldn’t deal with anymore of this tonight. Maybe tomorrow, but definitely not tonight. “I really am tired,” he whispered.

“Of course you are. Go to sleep. We can talk more tomorrow.”

Nicaise nodded, but he didn’t watch Laurent as he left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally get to the smut, and I finally remembered some tags. (This always happens to me with multi-chapter fics.) Anyhow, enjoy! And thank you everyone who has left a comment!

Nicaise found that he enjoyed languages and mathematics. The two skills allowed him to speak with anyone who might come to the court of the two kings and then quickly work sums to determine how much they were worth. More than two years after his return from hiding to live under Laurent’s protection, he still worried at times that he would never succeed at anything in life besides being a pet and he was squandering his best years. But Laurent insisted that with the skills he was learning, Nicaise would have a place in his government if he wanted it. He didn’t know if he believed Laurent, but with a little money to start on, Nicaise knew he now had the knowledge to succeed as a trader or a merchant. As long as he could earn that money while he still had his looks and his body, he would never starve again.

The oddest transition, though, had to be his, if not friendship, then at least his truce with Damen. The King of Akielos turned out to be less of a mindless brute than Nicaise had expected. He was not quite the bookworm Laurent was and Nicaise had become, but he was reasonably intelligent. Nicaise still didn’t entirely understand what Laurent saw in him, but at least Damen was not, upon closer acquaintance, wholly repulsive.

Much had changed in Vere under the rule of the two kings, including raising the age of pets and prostitutes to 17, just as Laurent had promised. Nicaise questioned, though, how much of a difference it had made. Yes, when Lord Chastain had arrived at court with his “ward,” a lovely 14 year-old boy with rosy cheeks and pink bowed lips, Laurent had taken the boy away to raise and educate in the palace, while Chastain was sentenced to rot in the dungeon until the boy turned 17. But that was life at court in Vere. If Nicaise had to guess, he would bet that life in provincial brothels likely remained unchanged.

Nicaise was about to turn 17 himself as it happened. As the day grew closer, he found himself debating more and more what he ultimately wanted to do with his life. He could be a pet again. He had worried about whether or not he would go through an awkward phase like so many boys did, but with a little care, his skin had remained clear. And while his body had grown and filled out, it had done neither greatly, so his frame was still lithe and elegant. He could be a pet again, and a good one at that, but he didn’t know if that was still what he wanted.

And he didn’t mean just did he want to be a pet as opposed to a bureaucrat. Daily, or at least daily when they were in Vere, he saw Laurent and Damen and what it looked like when two people were in love. He doubted he would ever find anything like what the two of them had, and however lucky Ancel and Berringer had been, he knew he would never find a real connection with anyone as a pet. But would he actually be any good at politics? The kind of things Laurent had in mind when he told Nicaise there was a place for him in his government did not include the sorts of intrigues and backstabbing he had engaged in as the Regent’s pet. Would he be any good at this sort of aboveboard government? He really didn’t know. He did, however, know how to use his lips to satisfy a man by ways other than talking, and that wasn’t a talent easily dismissed.

This choice was never far from his mind, although he spoke to no one about it. Not that he had anyone to talk to about it, as he hadn’t really made any friends, save Laurent, if he could even consider the king a friend, and he didn’t think he could. So, he walked around with this debate every day as he ate breakfast, studied books of economics. Spoke with his tutors, slipped into the baths, crawled into bed alone at night.

This question playing in his head, Nicaise headed for the bath after a lunch lesson with his Vaskian tutor, the day hot and sweaty, and he needed a wash before supper. He took the long way around to the back of the bath to the entrance that was theoretically designated just for royalty. But Laurent had never told him he couldn’t use it, so Nicaise saw no reason to not use the more private entrance. Besides, this way he could peek through the cracks in the window shutters and make certain no one was bathing that he would rather avoid. Stripped to just a towel around his waist and carrying his favorite scented oil, he paused and peered through the cracked shutter with the best view.

Laurent and Damen lazed in the water, slowly kissing one another. They had no slave, pet, or servant with them, as was their custom. Laurent said they enjoyed washing each other, but when Nicaise remembered having to wash someone else, he couldn’t see the appeal. Now, watching these two in the bath, saw Laurent pass a sponge down Damen’s back, could witness the pleased look on Laurent’s face as he did so, Nicaise began to admit there might be some appeal to certain people. Not him, of course. Damen clearly liked it, though, his firm jaw gone slack with the pleasure of Laurent’s touch.

But soon sponges were forgotten. Damen lifted Laurent out of the huge bath, sitting him just on the edge. In fact, as Laurent lay back, his legs still dangled in the water. Damen slid between Laurent’s knees so he might drape Laurent’s legs over his shoulders. Nicaise found it surprising that someone so physically dominant as Damen would be willing to suck Laurent’s cock. He supposed he should no longer be surprised by these two, though.

And yet, he was about to be astonished. Damen did not take Laurent’s prick in his mouth as expected. Instead, he dipped lower, pressed his mouth, in fact, to Laurent’s opening. Nicaise, of course, had been forced to do the same before, and not necessarily to someone who had just cleaned. It was part of being a pet, and he assumed no one would ever do it if they were not under contract to do so. But it made Laurent moan and his small erection bobbed against his stomach. He clearly loved it, which Nicaise thought made sense, but Damen looked as if he was enjoying it every bit as much. Which seemed absurd. How could anyone _want_ to do that to someone else? Yet here they were all the same.

“Damen, how…how do you always make me feel so good?” Laurent was panting, one fist clenched at his side, the other buried in Damen’s wet curls. “Ah! Fuck. You can fuck me with your tongue all day. I give you leave.”

Damen hummed. “There’s almost nothing I’d like more.”

“Almost?” Laurent chuckled and lifted his head up so he could look at Damen. “Is there something you think would please your majesty more?”

“Watching swans swim on the pond?” Laurent laughed and gave Damen’s head a playful swat. “But if not that, perhaps my enormous cock in the same place would be preferable.”

“It’s ready for you any time.”

Damen did not hesitate to accept the invitation. He pushed Laurent back across the floor and then pulled himself out of the bath. He hovered over Laurent’s body like some vast tiger ready to devour his prey. Nicaise shivered, as did Laurent, but Nicaise couldn’t decide if it was for the same reason or not. When Damen slipped his hand under the small of Laurent’s back, Nicaise began to envision him flipping Laurent over, and Nicaise felt sorry for Laurent’s poor knees on the marble floor. But Damen wasn’t turning Laurent over onto hands and knees, but sliding him over to rest atop a thick towel.

Damen sat back on his haunches between Laurent’s legs, and Nicaise could now see that his boast of having an enormous cock was no boast, but truth. Nicaise had seen it before many years ago when Damen had first arrived and been forced into the ring naked. Nicaise had a vague memory of a boast he had made himself that he would gladly let Damen take him if it pleased the Regent. He remembered being more than slightly afraid his offer would be accepted and he was now reminded why. Nicaise gasped a little when he saw how big it still appeared even in Damen’s large hand as he slicked himself with oil.

Damen never did turn Laurent over. Instead, after a deep drink of wine, he lowered himself atop Laurent as Nicaise suspected men usually did with women. Nicaise didn’t like the idea that this foreign king was somehow insulting Laurent in this. It was not a position he would take willingly for someone who was supposed to be a partner instead of a contract holder, and he wondered at Laurent’s complacence—Laurent who complied to no one. But all the same, Laurent bent his knee high to this chest to let Damen in.

The barbarian began slowly, and once more Nicaise had to remind himself that Damen of Akielos was not the uncultured brute he had taken the pet in shackles for all those years ago. Instead, he was gentle, pushing gradually into Laurent and then stilling once he was fully inside. A tremble passed through Laurent’s body and Damen lowered his forehead until it touched Laurent’s. “Are you ready sweetheart?”

Laurent laughed with a hint of a sigh. “Yes. Fuck me, my king. Fuck me hard.”

“As you command, my king.”

Damen started at a deliberate, steady pace but his hips picked up speed while Laurent’s fingertips sank deeper and deeper into Damen’s flanks. Soon Damen’s hips were snapping down at a rate Nicaise had never seen, and he’d seen so much fucking, he could not believe that now, in this private moment between these two, he might be witnessing skill not even found at the Veretian court of old.

Damen pulled Laurent’s hair so his head was thrown back, his exposed neck ringed in sweat like a necklace. Damen bit into his throat and Laurent’s hands quaked, Nicaise suspected as much with his own lust as with the rapid movements of Damen’s body. And then Laurent shouted, and Nicaise could see his spend oozing from between their bodies. Damen, however, continued, and after a time Nicaise began to wonder if perhaps Damen would fuck Laurent quite literally senseless, when his perfect rhythm faltered, and he shuddered and called out Laurent’s name.

When Damen lay down beside Laurent and stroked his cheek, whispered something in his ear and Laurent smiled contentedly, Nicaise headed back to his room. He needed to see no more of Laurent’s submission to Damen, as though he were some pet or woman for Damen to use. Laurent was supposed to be a king. Could a man give himself so entirely to another man, lay there so helpless and still call himself a king? Then again, Damen had quite literally licked Laurent’s ass, which Nicaise was positive no king should do. He didn’t understand what they were doing, and he had no desire to be a part of it any longer, even just as a witness.


	4. Chapter 4

Much to his consternation, Nicaise found himself dreaming about Laurent and Damen in the bath more than once in the weeks that followed. The third time he woke thinking about it, he went ahead and finished himself off. The time after, he found a willing kitchen boy to swap blowjobs. After years of avoiding physical contact and sex, his body seemed to ache for it now. He guessed this was what boys his age typically experienced, but somehow, he’d thought he would skip by all the awkwardness until, well, until he decided he wanted to have sex again. The idea of the desire surprising him hadn’t been a consideration. He needed to do something about the situation.

Nicaise didn’t think he wanted to try approaching any of the nobles at court. He existed in a unique, and therefore undesirable state. He was of no family, which could be forgiven in a pet, but he was no longer a pet, which Laurent could not have made more clear. Still, one time a lecherous old fool had gotten drunk and put his hand on Nicaise’s ass at a feast, and Damen had seen. The man very quickly had a broken hand. Nicaise obviously didn’t tell Damen or Laurent that this incident had hardly been the first, as he didn’t need to cripple a dozen some odd men for life.

The salient facts were these: he was not a pet or a noble, but he clearly lived under the protection of the two kings. This attracted and repulsed men differently, some wishing to avoid anything that might lead to their own broken hand, and so they did not so much as speak to him. Others, remembering the influence he had wielded under the Regent, assumed he must have equal sway now with Laurent, and they courted him. Nicaise did nothing to dissuade these assumptions, but he also rarely tried to influence anything. And then there were those who remembered him as the Regent’s young pet, and they frowned at him with pity, but generally never spoke to him. He enjoyed them not speaking to him, but he would have happily forgone the pity.

All of this meant it was difficult for Nicaise to find a suitable sexual partner now that he wanted sex. He tried the kitchen boy again, who turned out to be named Emile, but it was just some frenetic rubbing that left Nicaise unsatisfied. Then he seduced the servant of a visiting count, and that was a bit better, but Nicaise underestimated how much he would need opened before they began, and the pain reminded him of one of the reasons why he had not wanted sex for so long. If he were going to find someone for sex again, it would have to be someone who knew how to do it right.

He was, in fact, compiling a list of possible candidates one evening in the bath, his prick growing hard as he thought of men at court and around the palace he found appealing. He was just ready to reach under the water and grab himself when Laurent slipped through the door alone.

“I didn’t think anyone would be in here,” he said with a smile from just inside the entrance, moving no closer to getting in the water himself. “Did you want to be alone?”

Nicaise wanted to jerk off, but obviously he didn’t want to say as much. He was seated on the ledge at one side of the bath and he twisted his hips away from Laurent, who was probably too far away to see his erection, but Nicaise saw no reason to flaunt it. “Not necessarily. You should join me.”

Laurent nodded at the bath’s edge. He draped his robe on the stool next to it and walked into the bath.

Nicaise could well remember the time when almost no one in Vere had seen Laurent naked, a rather unique feat for a handsome young prince. But Nicaise understood Laurent’s past frigidity, and welcomed his growing ease to bathe in front of Nicaise. Of course, seeing Laurent’s lean body, smooth and strong and still perfect even with the scars won from fighting for his throne, held a thrill as well. It was a body, to tell the truth, designed to make Nicaise harder, not to lessen his erection.

“I was going to wait for Damen,” Laurent said, sinking onto the underwater bench an arm’s length away. Nicaise found himself mesmerized by the waterline lapping at Laurent’s nipples and nearly missed what he said next. “But he’s been held up at the stables inspecting new horses and saddles that just arrived from Akielos. I don’t know what he plans to do when he finally returns all hot and sweaty, but I couldn’t sit around waiting for him any longer.”

“But you didn’t bring anyone to help you wash,” Nicaise said without thinking. Then quite deliberately, he added, “I would be happy to wash your back for you at the least.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll be fine just soaking.”

“No, please. Let me.” Nicaise reached to the shelf of soaps, oils, and sponges on the side of the bath without waiting for Laurent to argue. Now that the possibility of touching Laurent had presented itself to him, Nicaise would not be happy until he had Laurent slick with soap.

When he turned back around, the sponge ready for washing, Laurent smiled at him, but it was not an unreserved look. Instead the upturned lips were somehow skeptical, but Nicaise knew not of what. He cleared his throat. “Already?”

Laurent nodded and pivoted in his seat, offering his back to Nicaise. He did not know if he had ever been so close to Laurent’s back, and the speed of his heart increased as he neared it. Laurent was not broadly built, but the hours he spent sparring had made him well-muscled. Nicaise wanted to trace the shoulder blades with his tongue, but he restrained himself. He did, however, wash Laurent with gentle, teasing swipes, just as he had been taught as a pet. Whether or not Laurent was reacting to his ministrations he could not say, but he could not be more painfully hard himself.

“That’s very nice. Thank you, Nicaise.” After speaking these words, Laurent swiveled back around to a normal seated position. He smiled politely, his exquisite pink lips begging for what happened next. Without thought, Nicaise leaned in and kissed Laurent. It was just a soft brush on his lips, but it left him breathless.

“Nicaise, no.”

But Nicaise ignored Laurent and kissed him harder this time, pushing his tongue into Laurent’s mouth while his erection rubbed Laurent’s thigh.

“Nicaise. No.” This time Laurent drifted away down the bench so that Nicaise could not kiss him swiftly to stop any protest. “You’re so beautiful, Nicaise, but think about what you really want, and you’ll see that it’s not me. It’s not a quick grope in the bath.”

Nicaise was so perpetually aroused these days, he wanted nearly anything he could get. But Laurent was the loveliest man in the world, so, of course, Nicaise wanted him specifically. He moved closer to Laurent, so that he might chase a water droplet down his strong upper arm with a finger. “I think you are _exactly_ what I want.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“I think you should stop trying to think for me and trust me that I know what I want.” Nicaise had moved so close that he could move his lips over Laurent’s again, but in a moment, Laurent had turned his head.

“I should go,” Laurent said.

“But you haven’t finished washing. Let me help you.”

“Goodbye, Nicaise.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first wrote this fic, I just put in breaks as they felt natural, not necessarily thinking of each break as it's own chapter. But to have 8 parts, this ended up being a really short chapter. Still, hope everyone enjoys what's here.

“What would you like for your birthday?” Laurent asked a few days after their incident in the bath. They were lounging under a tree in the palace courtyard, the day too hot for anything else, unless you were Damen, who was down in the barracks or the armory or some such nonsense.

“Oh, nothing special,” he said, not having given it half as much thought as whether or not Laurent had forgiven him for the bath. “Maybe one of those barbarian oktons I’ve heard so much about, followed by an old-fashioned palace orgy. It’s been forever since I’ve done anything good and depraved.”

“I’ll talk to Damen about the okton. I’m sure he would be happy to organize it.” Laurent fell silent and Nicaise rolled his head lazily to the side to look at Laurent as though he didn’t care. “But I don’t think you want the orgy.”

  
“I can’t imagine a 17-year-old boy in Arles not wanting one. I owe it to all of those unfortunate boys who cannot have their own to do what I might for them.”

“All, well most, 17 -year-old boys want sex, that is true, but I still don’t believe you want an orgy.”

“Do tell, then—what do I want?” Their conversations had been fraught more often than not since Nicaise had kissed Laurent in the bath, and frankly, he was growing tired of this dance. If Laurent insisted on knowing what was best for him, Nicaise wanted to finally hear it.

“I see the way you look at Damen and me.”  
  
“Well,” he stumbled at first, not expecting this of all answers. But he tossed his head back and rallied. “I suppose I look at you utterly confused; confused how someone so theoretically smart as you ended up with that giant bear.”

Laurent ignored everything Nicaise had just said, as was his specialty lately. “You saw us, I think.”

“I see the two of you every day. Are you so blind or forgetful that you do not recall seeing me?”

“That is not what I mean. You saw us making love in the bath a couple months ago. Afterward, I found a vial of your favorite bath oil on a windowsill in the back entrance that only you, Damen, and I use. The crack in that shutter has since been repaired. I’m sure you have noticed.”

“I wondered where I left that oil. But I remember now setting it down as I fixed a sandal strap. Surely you must understand that I wouldn’t put myself through the horror of watching the two of you have sex.”

“Damen and I would like to help you. Sexually.”

Nicaise sat aghast for a moment before rolling his face away to peer up at the sun dripping through the leaves of a tree. He bit his tongue so he didn’t scream that he did not need condescension and pity for his birthday, especially not from Laurent. “If you want to help with my sex life, you can do so by hosting an orgy for me.”

“I know how you…,” Laurent drifted off and took a deep breath before continuing. “Damen and I would like to show you how enjoyable sex and intimacy can be. You won’t find that at an orgy, I promise you.”

“I really doubt there is anything you and that overgrown beast can teach me about sex, thank you very much.”

“We want to teach you about love.”

Without sparing a look at or word to Laurent, Nicaise got up and headed back inside the palace, making directly to his room where he could lock the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Nicaise’s birthday comprised an okton, feast, but no orgy. He got drunk, blindingly so, vomited out a window into the shrubberies, and required the help of two servants to get him to his room. He hadn’t been so miserable since returning to the palace after the Regent’s death. Laurent didn’t come to see him the day after, leaving Nicaise to feel miserable in solitude.

But the day after that when the pain behind his eyes had passed and the thought of food didn’t make him nauseated, he ate, bathed, and then went to find Laurent in his rooms. Damen happened to be lounging in a chair in the corner, but Nicaise didn’t care. He had made up his mind to ask for what he wanted, and if Laurent failed to give it to him, well, he would simply leave the palace without it, and Damen being there made no difference. The unwanted compassion in every one of Laurent’s looks had become intolerable since that day in the courtyard. He simply could stay no longer.

“I would like some money,” Nicaise said without preamble when he breezed into the room.

Laurent looked up from his desk where he sat going over some ledger. “Very well. How much do you need?”

Nicaise had given this question more thought than any other that morning. He would need money to carry out his plan successfully, so he didn’t want to pick a small number, but he also thought Laurent would be less likely to ask uncomfortable questions if he didn’t ask for too much. Here, in the spur of the moment, though, under Laurent’s imperious glare, he blurted out far too large a figure.

“What do you need so much for?” Damen asked, sitting up, suddenly interested in Nicaise’s presence in front of Laurent’s desk.

Laurent, however, just held Nicaise’s stare, not speaking a word, so Nicaise was forced to say something himself. “I need to buy some things.”

“What things could you possibly need that would cost so much?” Damen pressed.

“ _Things_. What? It’s not like you two don’t have the money. You’re, well, as rich as kings.”

“Whether or not we have the money is not at issue,” Laurent finally said. “Whether or not we would be happy to give it to you really isn’t, either. We’d give you ten times as much if you required it for some good purpose.”

“So what you’re questioning is my purpose?” Nicaise harrumphed. “Of course, it is. You don’t think I can make my own decisions. You were making plenty of decisions at 17. Both of you.” He threw them each their own angry look.

“Quite a few of them bad ones,” Damen said, getting up and crossing the room to stand beside Nicaise. “We’d rather you not make the same mistakes if we can help prevent it.”

“What? Like killing my future lover’s brother? Don’t worry—I’ll leave that one to you. No, I just need to strike out on my own, and to do that, I need money.”

“Are you planning to open a shop?” Laurent asked.

Nicaise scoffed at the notion. “Hardly.”

“Some other sort of business then?” Damen tried, as though he actually cared about helping Nicaise.

“I suppose you could say that.”

“The answer is no, you can’t have any money.” Laurent’s tone was so entirely final, it surprised Nicaise when Damen contradicted him.

“Let’s not be hasty. Nicaise might have a very good plan for how to invest the money he has asked for.”

“Thank you,” Nicaise said with a smirk.

Laurent stood up and walked away from his desk to straighten his bookshelves. “His ‘investment,’ Damen, is going to be in silk clothes and jewelry.” Laurent turned back around, and leaning against his bookshelves, arms crossed over his chest, he pierced Nicaise with his fierce eyes. “He wants to look the part when he goes looking for a pet contract.”  
  
“And so what if I do?”

“Absolutely not,” Damen growled, suddenly not the ally had had been pretending to be.

“I’d like to see you stop me.”

Damen glared at him, but Nicaise suspected he didn’t have the experience to know how to respond to someone openly defying him. Laurent, of course, had no such trouble.

“You don’t want to be a pet again, so stop talking nonsense.”

“I don’t? That’s news to me.”

“No, you don’t.” Laurent sighed, but then walked around the desk. In all the years Nicaise had been living at the palace under Laurent’s protection, Laurent hadn’t initiated physical contact since that first day he had held Nicaise while he wept. Therefore, it shocked him when Laurent brushed a strand of hair from Nicaise’s forehead with the gentlest touch. “Stay here and let us show you a better way.”

Nicaise wanted to flinch from Laurent’s touch as equally as he wanted to lean into it. Instead he closed his eyes, unable to run away or give in. Because it would be giving in, surrendering, much like how Laurent had utterly given himself over to Damen that day in the bath. Is that what he wanted? To experience submission on his own terms? But these wouldn’t be his terms—they would be Laurent’s. And yet, the hand on his face was so warm and gentle, inviting him to at last know what it was like to be cared for. It was just a matter of saying yes and allowing Laurent to show him the kind of joy he found with Damen.

Damen. It was as though thinking his name brought him nearer. His heavy hand rested lightly on Nicaise’s shoulder and in a moment, his warm breath tickled Nicaise’s ear. “We want to do this for you,” Damen whispered. “Let us show you what love and sex should look like, and if you still want to be a pet afterward, we won’t stop you. We will even give you twice as much money as you asked for.”

“We will?” Laurent asked.

Nicaise opened his eyes to see the sassy look Laurent was giving Damen over Nicaise’s shoulder. Nicaise almost wanted to giggle. He also wanted to believe that Damen was telling the truth after so many people in his life had told him lies. He wanted to know he could try this, but still have the life he knew he was good at if this failed, as he expected it would.

“Do you really mean it?” Nicaise asked over his shoulder. “I can do anything I want, and you’ll give me money, if I don’t like this?”

“Absolutely,” Damen answered.

“Then I agree. Let’s get started.”


	7. Chapter 7

Nicaise pulled away from both of them and made his way over to the bed. If he had known they would invite him to bed, he would have worn something more alluring than a simple burgundy tunic, laced at collar and cuffs, with plain black linen pants. But he supposed a still youngish boy perched in the middle of a big bed would provide its own effect on two grown men. He kicked off his shoes and climbed up, turning around in a pose with his back arched, lips a bit pouty, that had been found acceptable by others in the past.

“You’re not here to play pet for us,” Laurent said, standing at the foot of the bed.

“I’m sorry. Do you dislike what you see?”

Laurent frowned. “Of course not. You’re beautiful, Nicaise. That could never be in question. What I’m saying is there is no need for you to perform. We just want you to enjoy yourself. To learn what you enjoy. You aren’t here simply to please us, but to find pleasure yourself.”

“Maybe I like performing. Am I not allowed to please myself that way?” This was not merely something he tossed out just for the sake of arguing with Laurent, even if that was the tone he used. It was a question he had been debating for the past several months since sex had reentered his life and the date when he could be a pet again approached. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought he would like to show off for his lovers. He couldn’t say why at this point, but perhaps that was a problem for a different day.

“May I propose something?” Laurent asked. Nicaise worried where this might be heading, the good feeling of Laurent’s hand on his cheek and Damen at his back beginning to fade. And yet, he nodded. “Let Damen and me try different things with you, slowly, and you can tell us if you like them or not.”

“I already know what I like. I’m not some blushing virgin, you know.”

“You’ve also never been with anyone who made you the priority. It’s different when you are.”

Nicaise sighed and finally broke his pose, plopping down on the mattress while Laurent took off his slippers and crawled onto the bed. Damen, meanwhile, made his way to the head of the bed and began removing a variety of bottles from the drawer of the nightstand. Nicaise turned his focus back to Laurent, thrusting his chin out defiantly at the notion Laurent would have him experiencing something all that new.

“I’d like to kiss you,” Laurent said. “Is that alright with you?”

Nicaise scoffed. “I assume before this is over, one or both of you is going to fuck me, so I think I can handle a little kissing. Besides, it won’t be our first time.” He licked his lips. “Oh, wait. Oops. Did you tell him about our day in the bath, or have I just gone and spoiled everything?”

Laurent shook his head while he stroked Nicaise’s cheek again, and Nicaise wondered why he liked something so simple so very much. “Of course I told him. I tell him everything. Communication matters, which I why I have to bring something up now. I won’t bring this up again if you don’t want, but I have to say it before we begin.”

“What?” Nicaise snapped, instinctively disliking Laurent’s tone.

“You and I were both forced to do things we never wanted.”

Nicaise yanked his face free of Laurent’s hand and scooted away several feet.

But Laurent went on. “So I’m going to ask you first about everything, and you have to promise to tell me if you don’t want to do something. Otherwise, this entire deal is off, and I will lock you in your room rather than let you leave here to become a pet again.”

“I should have known you wouldn’t keep your word.”

“Promise me, Nicaise. Promise you won’t let me or Damen hurt you by doing something you don’t want. After….” Laurent paused and sighed deeply. “I didn’t want anyone to touch me for a very long time. And even when Damen and I first became lovers, it took a long time for me to want to take him in my mouth.”

“I’m fine with sucking cocks, if that’s what you’re asking.” Nicaise’s tone was sharp, but he couldn’t look Laurent in the eye. He remembered how forceful the Regent had been, not so much looking for someone to suck him off as a compliant mouth to roundly fuck. But it was something Nicaise was good at, and he liked being good at things. He would suck whatever Laurent and Damen wanted him to.

“I’m glad you don’t mind that, for your own sake. But I’m still going to ask before I do anything, and you’re going to promise to stop us if anything doesn’t feel good. So, do you promise?”

Nicaise decided to just nod.

“I want you to say it out loud.”

“I promise,” Nicaise finally said. And then he looked up at Laurent, blond hair slightly disheveled, but blue tunic still laced high up the throat as tightly as it had ever been. He was lovely, and he wanted Nicaise. He should focus on that. “I would like it very much if you were to kiss me.”

With the sweetest smile Nicaise had ever seen on Laurent’s face (it reminded him of a small child happy to get a treat), Laurent leaned over and kissed Nicaise. It began slow and light but Nicaise couldn’t stand the tease of it, so he grabbed Laurent by the back of the head and pressed their mouths hard together. Laurent enthusiastically returned the kiss for several glorious heartbeats until he broke away smiling.

“So, you prefer forceful over light?” Laurent laughed.

“Of course. Don’t you?”

Nicaise felt the bed shift behind him, and he realized Damen had finally joined them. Laurent peeked at him over Nicaise’s shoulder with a playful grin. “Depends on the person doing the kissing,” Laurent answered.

Nicaise turned now to face Damen, who looked ready to ravage them both to within an inch of their lives. Nicaise was very aware of his achingly hard prick. He glanced down and saw that Damen was hard as well. Nicaise had never been with a man so large, and he wondered if he would take Damen well. Finding out was all that mattered to him now.

“May I kiss you?” Damen asked.

Nicaise didn’t speak, rather just launched himself at the man he had once called a brute and stabbed with a fork, now wanting those huge arms to hold his melting body. And Damen caught him, but he didn’t allow Nicaise the fierce kiss he tried to start. Instead, Damen barely allowed their lips to touch, exchanging more breath than spit with him. Nicaise was furious, but he could do nothing against Damen’s strength, only allow him to kiss him with agonizing slowness and tenderness. Soon, Nicaise stopped struggling, relented to the pace Damen set, and truly did melt against him.

Nicaise lost track of time, the glorious sensation of Damen taking an agonizingly long time to inspect every tiny bit of his mouth, his whole world. But eventually Damen pulled back fractionally, still so close that their lips brushed as Damen spoke. “Do you see the appeal of slow now?”

“Yes,” Nicaise panted, unable to do anything but tell the truth. “Absolutely.”

“I would like to take your clothes off, Nicaise,” Laurent announced from behind him. “I’ve already taken mine off. I hope that is fine.”

Nicaise twisted to look over his shoulder and saw Laurent’s glorious body. All he could do for a moment was shudder, finding himself wondering why clothes had ever been invented in the first place. “That sounds very good. Can Damen and I keep kissing while you do that?” Damen gently turned his face back around and traced his lips with a thumb.

“With Damen kissing you is really the best way to get undressed,” Laurent answered, and Nicaise could hear the smile in his voice. “Take it from one who knows.”

So, then he was kissing Damen again, his mouth more insistent as his grip loosened so that Laurent could reach from behind and start undoing laces. Laurent began with his tunic, but Nicaise wanted to yell at Laurent to do his pants first instead and let his prick out already. But to shout, he would have been forced to stop kissing Damen, and he would rather do anything besides that.

Eventually, of course, he did have to break the kiss so that Laurent could pull his tunic over his head. But throughout, Damen had his huge, strong hands on Nicaise’s waist, grounding him in place there between the two of them. In a moment the tunic was gone, and Laurent’s naked chest pressed against his naked back, pushing him once more to Damen’s mouth. Nicaise sighed, and if they had not been pinning him upright, he would have collapsed.

“I want to touch you,” Laurent whispered into his ear. “I want to run my hands all over your chest and back. May I?”

Nicaise moaned into Damen’s mouth, but Damen moved his lips away so he might answer. “I’d rather you get my prick out of my pants. It’s dying in there.”

Damen smirked unsympathetically in his face. “If mine can survive in my pants a little longer, yours can, too.”

Nicaise glanced down again, and his glance soon became a prolonged stare. The bulge was absolutely enormous. Nicaise’s hands currently rested on Damen’s shoulders, but he let his right hand fall and grasp Damen through his clothes. “We could both take off our pants now. I’d be happy to let yours out as well.”

“It’s so impressive,” Laurent said, his chin resting on Nicaise’s shoulder so that he might also look down upon Damen’s massive erection. “Unlike mine. So underwhelming.”

Laurent pressed his erection against Nicaise’s ass, and it wasn’t terribly big, but he’d seen it before, and it was well shaped and thick enough to feel. Nicaise had always thought he could really show off his sucking talents on a prick that size. Nicaise wondered if he should say any of this aloud, but Damen swiftly kissed him before he could.

“Let him touch you for a bit, and I’ll get to work on our pants. A fair trade?” Damen said, breaking away. Then his hand left Nicaise’s waist and squeezed his erection. Nicaise trembled so hard it took him a moment to remember how to speak.

“Okay. Yes. Let’s do that.”

Nicaise was immediately overwhelmed by their light touches. The backs of Damen’s fingers brushed his prick while he loosened the laces of Nicaise’s pants. All while Laurent’s fingertips traced his spine and then his shoulders and throat. Then Laurent molded himself to Nicaise’s back and reached his hands around to the front. They glided over his stomach, traced his ribs, then lightly flicked across Nicaise’s nipples. An incredibly undignified high-pitched squeak emitted from Nicaise’s mouth. For an instant, he wanted to die of shame until Damen’s mouth once more closed over his and Laurent’s fingers now fondled his nipples with deliberateness.

Nicaise’s body thrummed with pleasure, and he didn’t know what to concentrate on or how to move. He gave his body over to Laurent and Damen and soaked in the sensations. Damen at last had his pants open, but one hand still lingered on the outside, gently palming him through the fabric. Meanwhile, Laurent alternated between brushing feather light over his nipples and pinching them mercilessly, and Nicaise could not decide which had him closer to coming apart. All the while, he couldn’t even remember where his own hands were. When it flitted through his mind that this seemed wrong, he was not doing his part to please who he was in bed with, he understood what Laurent and Damen’s joint attack on his body had been about.

He was petulant and angry by nature and circumstance, but a part of him had loved Laurent and Damen since the day they had accepted his return to the palace. At this moment, he loved them more than ever. Not romantically, but, yes, romantically, or maybe just sexually, but also somehow else. Anyway, he loved that they cared, that they made his body thrill in a way he had never known possible.

“Too much,” he panted, throwing his head back onto Laurent’s shoulder. “It’s all too much.”

“Should we stop?” Damen asked, stilling the hand he had pressed against Nicaise’s erection.

“Fuck no,” Nicaise laughed breathlessly.

“So, you like all of this?” Laurent asked as though he were some academic taking a survey about poetry or a new scientific theory.

Nicaise chuckled in the back of his throat. “Yes, I like it. Obviously.”

“Not everyone likes this much attention to their nipples.” Laurent gave Nicaise’s a light tweak. “Do you prefer light or hard?”

“Yes,” Nicaise laughed.

“Sort of like how you enjoy kissing,” Damen added before licking Nicaise’s lips.

“Sort of like that, yes.” He breathed insistently several times before he could go on. “What’s next? I want more, and I don’t want to spend in my own damned pants.”

“How do you want to spend?” asked Damen, fixing their eyes together, and Nicaise would have visibly slumped had Laurent not been at his back holding him upright.

“You could just spurt yourself all over Damen’s stomach right now,” Laurent suggested against his neck. “It would only take me a couple of tugs to have you coming, I’m sure.”

Nicaise had it on his lips to say yes, this was precisely what he longed for. But then Damen said, “Or I could order Laurent to suck you off. He likes that now. I think he would like you particularly.”

The noise Nicaise made could perhaps be best transcribed as “meep.” He wanted to shout out “yes.” But they were not done with him yet.

“I could finger you open,” Laurent suggested. “Brush against that spot inside you again and again until you sprayed all over the bed. Has anyone found that spot for you before, or would I be the first?”

Nicaise wanted to say this, absolutely, was exactly how he wished to spend, but Damen interrupted once more. “I could fuck you, Nicaise, I could fuck you so good. You on your hands and knees, Laurent under you, and when my prick made you come untouched—because I would hit that spot with every thrust—you could come on his throat and make him a pearl necklace money can’t buy.”

Before either of them could say another word, Nicaise screamed, “Yes!”

And that was what they did, that first time, all three of them together in bed. Laurent spilled oils on his fingers, while Damen removed Nicaise’s pants and undressed himself. Then Laurent, lovingly and with a care Nicaise had never been shown or showed himself, opened Nicaise for Damen. It took longer than Nicaise had ever thought possible, and only because Laurent was careful not to touch the spot within him did Nicaise manage not to spend during the glorious process. But then he was ready, and Nicaise propped himself up on hands and knees, Laurent beneath him, Damen behind.

Damen was slow and gentle, just as he had been that day with Laurent in the baths. Still, Nicaise could feel every inch of him and despite the best preparation of his life, it burned. But it burned so beautifully, he wanted to weep. He held onto his tears, though, moaning wantonly in a way he never had before. He almost wanted to laugh, thinking back to how he had played wanton as a pet, not even coming close to understanding what it meant to be truly so. But he didn’t laugh. He took Damen’s prick. And loved every moment.

“You take him so beautifully,” Laurent said. And Nicaise felt pride mixing with his pleasure. His increasing pleasure. He was so close. It felt impossibly good.

It was only then that Damen started fucking him in earnest. As promised, Damen’s huge prick hit the spot inside him every time, and Nicaise simply could not help himself. No power in the world could have prevented him from spending all over Laurent’s throat in a rapturous bust of passion.

Unlike the day in the bath, Damen came quickly after, and Nicaise had never felt so good, not even a moment before when he’d had his own orgasm, as when Damen filled him up inside. Nicaise collapsed on top of Laurent. He could feel Laurent’s erection, and he felt a pang of disappointment that he did not have the energy to do anything about it.

Laurent kissed his cheek. “It is wonderful, isn’t it? Damen inside you, filling you with love.”

“It’s not really about me, though,” Damen whispered, his voice at Nicaise’s ear but his body still above, not pressing down. “It is being filled by someone who cares that matters.”

Nicaise sighed against Laurent’s throat as Damen slipped out. Nicaise whimpered for a moment while Laurent helped him onto the bed at his side. He felt glorious and did not care for Damen’s philosophizing. His body was warm against Laurent’s, and he wanted this closeness to last forever.

Laurent turned his head and kissed Nicaise on the forehead. “You were so good. I watched every second, and I could tell Damen loved fucking you, as much as you loved taking him. Rest now and watch other things you might like.”

Hazily, Nicaise turned his head and watched Laurent slither up to the top of the bed. Damen reached into the nightstand from where he’d grabbed the oils earlier, and this time he took out a length of rope. Laurent raised his hands over his head and flopped his crossed wrists next to the spindles of the headboard.

Nicaise watched in awe as Damen wrapped the rope lazily around Laurent’s wrists. Laurent mewled while Damen’s actions were slightly awkward with post-coital bliss, but soon Laurent was secure. After Laurent tugged a few times to prove the fact, Damen slipped down his body, his own already between Laurent’s legs. A moment later, Laurent’s prick disappeared in Damen’s mouth.

Laurent’s back arched as he moaned. Nicaise studied Laurent’s bliss, momentarily wondering if his face had looked similar. Laurent looked so…happy, so utterly pleased, as if this moment was providing for everything he had ever desired. Nicaise wanted to know what that felt like. He had just had the most extraordinary sexual encounter of his life, and yet, the look on Laurent’s face surpassed everything Nicaise had ever felt. He wanted this, needed to feel this particular sensation. For now, he could but watch.

Damen’s head moved up and down, Laurent’s prick lost within his mouth. Laurent strained at his ropes, and Nicaise thought he longed to grab Damen’s curls as he had that day the bath. But tied up as he was, he could not, and Nicaise was left to wonder which Laurent genuinely wanted.

“Your mouth is perfect,” Laurent hummed. “You always know what I need.”

“Did you need to be tied?” Nicaise whispered before he could think about whether or not this was an appropriate question.

“Sometimes, yes.” Laurent paused and moaned. “Oh, Nicaise, it’s glorious to totally give yourself up to the control of someone you trust.”

Nicaise thought about this, studied the pleasure of Laurent’s face, and he believed Laurent felt this way, but he didn’t know that he ever could. He had spent so much of his life helpless, at someone else’s whim. He needed the control now over his own body.

“I’m not interested.”

Damen’s cheeks hollowed out, and Nicaise could only guess at what it felt like to be sucked so hard by someone who clearly knew how.

Somehow in the midst of what must be an extraordinary sensation, Laurent said, “You don’t have to be. You can be interested in exactly the things you want to be and nothing else. It’s good to understand why someone may like it, though. It’s…oh fuck!”

Laurent said no more but began shuddering until he screamed and thrust hard up into Damen’s mouth where Nicaise had no doubt he was spending. Laurent looked entirely boneless, sagging against his bonds. Damen had stilled, his eyes closed, Laurent yet in his mouth. Nicaise wished he could draw them and preserve the perfection of the moment, because he feared when he woke tomorrow, he would never believe he had witnessed this.

When Damen finally allowed Laurent to fall from his lips, he turned to Nicaise and favored him with a smile. “Would you like to kiss me?”

Nicaise slid on his stomach across the smooth sheets to lay before Damen expectantly. When they kissed, Nicaise could clearly taste Laurent, and he went slowly and deeply, licking Damen’s mouth shamelessly. He’d had the finest wine and food in the world, but nothing had ever tasted better.

“You can’t imagine what you two look like,” Laurent said through a haze of spent lust. “It makes me so happy.”

Damen smiled against Nicaise’s lips as he ended the kiss. “So, we should remain as we are? Or should we break off for a moment so I can untie you?”

“Untied, please. I want to hold you both.”


	8. Chapter 8

Nicaise decided to stay at the palace after that night. In the weeks and months after and little by little, Laurent and Damen allowed him to experience various things, from being the one to fuck Laurent to Damen blindfolding him while fucking him with his tongue. He still had no desire to be restrained, and the one time Laurent had spanked him, Nicaise was happy not to do so again. But he had found so much he did enjoy and how that pleasure was tied to whether or not you had a caring lover.

Laurent and Damen maintained their own relationship outside of their lessons with Nicaise, and encouraged him to begin searching for a relationship of his own. He still had the same problem as before, that his position was so unique he did not know where he ought to look for companionship, or at least a sex life he could call his own. All he knew was that he was ready.

And that was when Nikandros arrived in Arles with a small retinue from Akielos to discuss recent trade issues the two kingdoms needed to smooth out with Patras. In the retinue was a young accountant, a year or two older than Nicaise, named Sotiris. He had the olive skin and brown hair of so many of his countrymen, but with blue eyes and a slimmer build. Nicaise thought him the most striking creature he had ever seen. And when he smiled shyly over his wineglass, Nicaise thought he might explode.

In fact, it took only two days before Nicaise was dreaming about Sotiris and waking up hard and needy. Without hesitation, Nicaise had rolled over and taken his favorite oil from his nightstand and stroked himself to the image of Sotiris naked and trembling. This imaginary Sotiris had dropped to his knees and sucked Nicaise while simultaneously fingering him open, and the vision had Nicaise spending all over his soft sheets.

On the third night of the visit, Laurent opened up the palace to a grand feast, and Nicaise spent hours preparing, selecting the perfect red tunic with wide gold laces and black leather pants. His hair was oiled and styled with more care than he’d given it in years. He even put on a hint of makeup—not enough to be confused as a pet, but enough to draw attention to his eyes. When he entered, his intention had been to go straight over to Sotiris and introduce himself, but he paused to have a glass of wine first. And then a second. It was at that moment that Damen caught Nicaise staring across the room at Sotiris. Nicaise tried to turn away, say he was merely entranced momentarily by the tapestry on the wall opposite, but Damen only grinned. “Would you like me to introduce you?”

“To whom? I’ve no idea what you mean.”

“To Sotiris, of course. I know you a little bit, Nicaise. We have come rather a long way since we sat in this room and you stabbed me with a fork.”

Nicaise laughed nervously, Damen right about everything he had just said. There was really nothing left but for him to risk it. “Do you think he would want to meet me?” he asked, his mouth dry, heart fluttering.

“You don’t know this, but before you started staring at him, he was staring at you.”

Nicaise checked to see if Damen were joking, because if he was, Nicaise had every intention of stabbing him with a fork once more. But Damen’s face appeared earnest, and Nicaise’s hopes threatened to overflow his good sense. “But if he knew my past, would he want me?”

“I think when he gets to know your present, your past won’t make a difference to him.”

Nicaise forced himself up straight, shoulders back, doing whatever he might to project a confident air he didn’t feel. If all he did was stare, eventually Sotiris would leave with the rest of the retinue, and Nicaise would be stuck in Arles forever wondering what might have been. Surely, he could at least get a kiss. Fuck, but he wanted a kiss from those full, shining lips. “He’s an accountant, right? Do you think he’s read Modeste Morgan? Fascinating theories on tariffs.”

Damen chuckled. “I definitely think you should ask him. Let’s go say hello.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! Hope everyone has enjoyed this story. Thank you for reading. 
> 
> Happy Hanukkah, CG!


End file.
